28 APRIL 6, 2020 |^ ADWEEK
®ADWEEK CHAMPIONS
Victoria
Russell
chief of
diversity,
equity and
inclusion
PAPA JOHN’S
INTERNATIONAL
H
ow exactly does one make the enormous lateral jump from marketing
analytics to being chief of diversity for a global brand like Papa
John’s? With the help of a village.
Russell faced a high-pressure challenge like no other when
she stepped into the role overseeing diversity and inclusion for a
company in crisis. It was July 2018, and the pizza company’s founder
stepped down after a leaked recording of him using an offensive anti-
black slur hit the news.
Russell had worked at Papa John’s for 12 years, and was already a
rising leader in the company’s D&I initiative. But Russell had her own
personal crisis: Her mother had just passed away from cancer. At first,
she wasn’t sure she wanted to take on more work.
“It felt like an uphill challenge to positively promote the company
and be genuine and authentic to myself in the middle of everything,”
Russell says. Before taking the mantle, she reached out for advice to her
own mentors and to a network of diversity and inclusion specialists fromother companies—including her previous employers at Brown-Forman
and Humana. “Hey, we’re not going to let you fail” is the message Russell
says she got in response.
“It’s a beautiful thing, how you kind of reach out to one person and
they connect you with more, and then they connect you with more,”
she says of what she calls her “village.”
Groups like CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion were an
invaluable resource, and Russell relieved stress by continuing her
Zumba hobby (she has taught classes for her Papa John’s colleagues, and
on the day of her Adweek interview, was planning to take an online class
after work). It’s this kind of upbeat, extroverted approach to calling on
all available resources that Russell shares with her mentees Tiffany
Wynn (director of marketing and communications at Vivent Health)
and Matt Story (senior director of global brand marketing at Visa.)
When she took on Wynn and Story as mentees, both came prepared
with a list of questions—starting with how Russell found the confidence
to step up in a time of crisis. That sparked an ongoing discussion about
how to remain authentic and “bring your whole self to work.” Being
authentic means being OK with who you truly are, says Russell, and
finding your voice and finding ways to be heard. —M.E.O.Tiffany Wynn | director, marketing
and communications | Vivent Health
Wynn—who, in a 2019 merger, helped rebrand three HIV healthcare groups
from Denver, Milwaukee and St. Louis into Vivent Health—recalls Russell
telling her that when growth potential seems to halt, borrow a new approach
from someone you don’t work with. “[Victoria said] if you are the smartest
person in the room when it comes to your profession or expertise,” says Wynn,
“you have to grow and be developed in the space you work in from the outside.”Matt Story | senior director, global brand marketing | Visa
When Story met Russell, he asked how she managed being a woman of color
overseeing D&I amid a high-profile racial bias crisis—and was surprised by her
response. “‘If you are going to rebel, rebel from inside the organization,’” is what
Story says Russell told him. “I had never thought of being a rebel within my own
organization. But this gave me the push to seek out ways that I could raise my hand.”Being authentic means being
OK with who you truly are, says
Russell, and finding your voice.